Maynard James Keenan Says New Tool LP Was ‘Fantastic Eight Years Ago’

Fans who've waited for 13 years for Tool to deliver a new album have finally seen their patience rewarded with the recent release of Fear Inoculum. Still, the wait could have been shorter, as frontman Maynard James Keenan admitted the LP was already “fantastic eight years ago.”

The comment came during an appearance on BBC Radio 1‘s Rock Show With Daniel P Carter. Kennan was candid on the topic of Tool’s long break between albums.

“I think a lot of it [was] just that age where you want it to be right and we’ve had some success in the past, and the fear of this thing coming out and not being accepted — the fear that it’s not as good as it can be — that can be detrimentally crippling,” he confessed. "If I had to ‘psychology 101’ [it], I would have to say, ‘Well, yeah, that’s why it would take 13 years to write something, because you’re paranoid that it’s not gonna be the best that it can be and then you second guess every single step that you make,’ when it was probably good enough — I shouldn’t say good enough — it was fantastic eight years ago."

Describing the second guessing as a “spiral,” Keenan went on to reveal that constant internal questioning held the band back. “All of a sudden, you wake up and it’s 13 years later,” the singer lamented. “The hard part is accepting the fact that maybe you’re not as important as you think you are and you should probably just get on with it.”

The irony, of course, if that Fear Inoculum has been excitedly accepted by fans and critics alike. By all early accounts, Tool's new album is an unabashed success. Music industry insiders predict the LP to sell more than 250,000 copies in its first week, likely placing it atop the Billboard albums chart. Meanwhile, the title track has already earned nearly 10 million streams on Spotify and debuted at No. 93 on the Hot 100, becoming the longest song ever to enter the chart, at 10 minutes and 21 seconds.

Tool recently announced a six-week, 26-date tour, kicking off on Oct. 13 at the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, Calif. Tickets to the fest can be purchased now, with the rest of Tool's tour dates going on sale Sept. 6.